No, I am not writing this out of spite or ignorance. I owned a Bullet earlier and also a Yamaha RD 350 for a long time.
I recently - about 1 week back got into the - I want a bike - syndrome. So I was looking for a cruiser type only - thats the only one kind to my age, height and back :-)
So, went looking and got just the Thunderbird - after riding it, I thik it says more if you call it Thudderbird, and the Avenger.
Needless to say, Avenger won on all counts hands down - my requirement is city riding anyways. Imagine the plight of people trying to ride a Thudderbird on long distance...or maybe imagine the plight of people’s sore backsides!
Thudderbird, as I saw it, has many unique features and a few of them are - you dont need a horn - the silencer noise is enough; you don’t need a horse - the seating position gives you the same feel; you dont need a wooden bench - the seat is a chiropractor’s nightmare; you dont really need speed - the engine is so ancient that it belongs in a museum. Aaaahhhhh - thats your back screaming - because of the suspension. Man, the company really needs to go back to the drawing board and redesign every little piece of that bike! The only thing they did a near decent job of is with the paint job - so kudos to that! Price - AAAAARRRGH!! 96K !!
Thank you very much! I went and bought the Avenger next day and I am smiling:-)
I can imagine the negative remarks I am going to get with this review but my only suggestion is - go test ride an Avenger. No it does not have a 350cc engine, but tell me, which road in India really lets you use that? And btw, having a 350cc prehistoric pieces of metal welded together does not a bike make.
Frankly, I am looking when India will get a real cruiser. Not sad excuses for one. So why did I buy the Avenger? It is currently the ONLY bike that comes near to being a cruiser.
Let’s see what new bikes come up in this category.